The Simple Road To Ruin
by lifeincrayon
Summary: Piper hears those desperately spoken words in that achingly familiar voice and the reality of the past few minutes suddenly hits her like an oncoming car in a cacophony of smashing glass, twisting metal and breaking bones. Vauseman / Post-Finale.


A dark pool of blood was spreading across the pristine snow when someone roughly seized handfuls of Piper's jacket and tore her away from the soft, disfigured mess beneath her. Her vision was blurred from the adrenalin pumping through her veins and the waves of anger crashing over her shoulders as she lifted her fist - ready and willing to knock Doggett's foul friend into an equal state of unconsciousness or death when a familiar voice broke through the haze.  
"Piper – shit, Piper!"

Piper froze as Alex's voice permeated her consciousness and the reality of the past few minutes hit her like an oncoming car in a cacophony of smashing glass, twisting metal and breaking bones. Without warning, the last of the wild energy fuelling her fists fled her being and like a marionette with its strings cut Piper slumped – her knees colliding with the snow as she fell. Alex grabbed her before she could tip forward and crushed the blonde against her chest, ignoring the blood covering her figure from head to toe.

Despite Alex's best attempts to keep her warm, Piper continued to shiver as her eyes stared unseeingly at the unmoving figure in the snow. For the first time in over ten years Alex murmured worried nothings in her ear – lovingly calling her 'honey', 'baby' and a variety of names she hasn't used since they were in their pied-à-terre in Paris and Piper was threatening to leave for the first (but not the last) time in their tumultuous relationship.

Piper pushed away from the warm lips pressed against her neck and the gentle hands caressing her back as vomit rose in her throat and she heaved despite her empty stomach and spilt her stomach acid onto the snow. She finished, a heavy pain growing in her stomach as she wiped her mouth with her gory sleeve and smeared blood across her chin. She could hear hysterical laughter and it took a full minute for Piper to realize that the terrifying sound was coming from her.

Alex was staring at her in concern – her dark eyebrows arched behind those beautiful black lenses but it only made Piper laugh harder.  
"I killed Jesus," she gasped, her laughter reaching a critical level as she began to sob simultaneously. Hands gripped her forearms in concern but fell away as the door clicked open behind them. Piper fell silent as her hands grasped the front of her chest in a futile attempt to muffle the sound of her pounding heart.

"My god," a voice said from behind them as Alex stiffened and Piper spun her head. Nicky took a cautious step towards them - her eyes wide, almost bulging as she looked over the still form of Doggett, the pool of blood, Piper, more blood and finally Alex. "What the _fuck_?"

Alex stood then, leaving Piper to sit in the snow alone as she took a tentative step toward the intruder. This was the end, Piper reasoned to herself as she focused on a small fleck of blood on her left shoe – the love of her life had left her for another woman and she was about to end up strapped to a chair counting down to oblivion.

Piper smiled to herself then and granted herself the luxury of lying down, cushioned by the snow to stare at the inky black sky and shining stars above her. She could hear Alex and Nicky whispering heatedly, but she was too far-gone to care about their intimacy and instead began to hum 'twinkle, twinkle little star' to herself, a smile playing on her lips.

The murmurs stopped as Piper continued to hum, frowning as two faces appeared above her, blocking her view of the sky.  
"If you'll excuse me," she said calmly, "I'd really like to spend the last few minutes I have staring at the stars before I'm found, convicted of murder and given the death penalty."  
"Piper," Nicky began, throwing a knowing glance at her bespectacled lover in a move that made Piper's stomach twist. She sat up, not waiting for the traitor to finish as she pushed herself off the ground with a grunt.  
"You two should go," she said more sharply than she intended as she forced her lips into an encouraging smile and straightened, "I'm going to get caught in a minute and you two shouldn't be here."

Without looking at either of them, she took a step towards Doggett (she should at least check if she was really dead) only to feel a cataclysmic explosion of fire and heat across her chest as her heel touched the ground. She crumpled for a second time, missing Alex's outstretched fingers by a millisecond as her head slammed against the ground and stars erupted across her vision.  
"Hell," she said in a whisper, a black fog descending over her vision as two warm hands rolled her onto her side and fingers probed under her shirt in the most unromantic way possible.  
"At least," she said in a gurgling voice as something warm ran from the corner of her lips, "buy a girl dinner first."

Piper wasn't even given a chuckle or a smile in response as Alex continued to probe, her face tight before she swore more vehemently then Piper had ever heard.  
"She's been stabbed," she said to Nicky sharply, "she's bleeding out. Get a fucking CO. Now!"  
Piper didn't realize how close she was to passing out until her world came painfully into focus as Alex grabbed her chin with a blood-stained hand and dragged Piper's eyes to her own.  
"Don't you _fucking_ die on me, Piper Chapman," she said with tears spilling down her face and Piper felt red-hot guilt pump through her veins.  
"I'm sorry," she said, choking out the words against her own blood and tears. Alex dipped her head and kissed her hard as Piper felt relief soothe her growing panic.  
"I heart you," Alex whispered as she pulled away – her chin smeared with Piper's blood. Her eyes were as intense as they were the first time they met in that seedy bar and Piper couldn't help but get caught in her gaze, ignoring the sound of the door slamming open and the thumping footsteps hurrying towards them as she painfully lifted her hand to grasp the one holding her chin.  
"I love you," she said, a smile breaking across her lips.  
Alex smiled in response.


End file.
